CODY, Wyo. — Nestled in her cozy Cody home, Karen Day, a proud Montana native, reflected on a childhood filled with laughter and competition, long before girls sports got their much-deserved recognition through Title IX.
“Once a week, we had the gym to ourselves. We could play basketball, we could jump on the trampoline … every time you went, you got points. And if you got enough points, you got a (varsity) letter,” she recalled with a nostalgic smile that lit up the room.
Day's journey began in the small town of Baker, where she also embraced her love for twirling.
“Oh, and I’m a twirler,” she added with a twinkle in her eye, proudly recalling her baton-twirling days that would follow her to Billings.
Day’s passion for sports grew as she enrolled at Eastern Montana College, pursuing a degree in physical education.
“I wanted to be in sports, and most of the things they offered were for men, and for coaching. And then, I saw over at Rocky, what they had to offer, and I said, I’m over there,” she said, referencing Rocky Mountain College and the new opportunities it presented.
Flipping through albums of treasured memories filled with photos and newspaper clippings, Day shared the milestones of her life: graduating from Rocky, getting married, and landing her first teaching job in the tiny town of Big Horn, Wyo., just outside of Sheridan.
“So, it was K-12 P.E., health, coaching volleyball, basketball, track, pep club, and cheerleaders for $8,000. And I thought, wow, that’s a lot of money,” she chuckled, recalling her early days in education.
Hidden within her extensive list of responsibilities was the exciting opportunity to take over the girls basketball program.
In a humble tone, she reflected on the significance of her achievement and was quick to give credit, ironically recalling another hometown native eager to blaze her own trail.
“The other girl from Baker, her name is Dianne Moser. She was the coach at Tongue River hired the same year as I did. We knew we were in the same district but didn’t know our schools were rivals,” she recalled, mentioning the bond that formed through their mutual ambition.
Moser, who retired in 2015 after 41 years of coaching, left a legacy intertwined with Day’s journey, along with fellow trailblazers like Vicki Fielder Hanft (basketball, volleyball, track) and Deb Moody, who shaped the young athletes in their respective schools.
As Day reminisced about her early days of the Big Horn program, challenges became clear: creating team schedules, finding officials and the big surprise involving transportation.
"I said, how do I get a bus? And they said, that’s easy, you just go down to the state highway department and get a Class B license. And I said, oh, I drive the bus? And they said, yeah," Day said.
Day also recalled a tense trip finding herself behind the wheel, pregnant and managing bus issues with no power steering or brakes.
“So, I said to this girl, Sharon, come up here. I said, I’m going to pull the bus into the side of the hill and when I tell you, I want you to pull that brake,” she said, her voice revealing the gravity of the situation. “We pulled off to the side and it wrecked the bus, but nobody was killed. But I knew we couldn’t make it around that next corner, or we would go all the way down to the bottom.”
Day’s spirit and determination paved the way for a successful program, one that even meant sharing sweaty uniforms between volleyball and basketball.
“JVs would wear the uniform and then after that, the varsity players had to put on the sweaty uniforms because that’s all we had,” she said with a blend of pride and humor.
Eventually, her journey led her to Cody, where she recently retired as a school counselor.
As for twirling, this upbeat grandmother of five clearly hasn’t lost a beat.
“These are called finger twirls, so you can go like this ...,” she said, masterfully demonstrating in her living room with one of her vintage prized batons.
